Netball squad announced for World Cup qualifiers Zauana, Katjaimo, Kaspar in the mix

The Namibia Netball Association (NNA) has announced a strong squad for the upcoming Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, with some of the country's top netballers such as Jaumbuaije Bytjie Zauana, Vendjihonga Katjaimo, Anna Kaspar and Selma Bittler leading the pack.

The Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, which start on Monday in Lusaka, Zambia, will serve as the qualification tournament to next year's Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, which will mark the 15th edition of the quadrennial global showpiece.

oing into Monday's Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, Namibia will face East African nation Uganda on Tuesday, August 14, for their opening match of the competition, before taking on Kenya on August 15 for their second match.

On August 16, the girls from the Land of the Brave will take to the court to confront Zimbabwe for their third clash of the qualifiers. Namibia will then proceed to face a stern test against Malawi on August 17, before concluding their campaign with a clash against neighbours Botswana on August 18.

Team Namibia, which will be spearheaded by coach Manuel Tjivera with the assistance of Elsie du Plessis and Antoinette Wentworth, sees the likes of South African-based players such as Jaumbuaije Bytjie Zauana and Vendjihonga Katjaimo bring much needed experience and exposure to the team, while veteran Dorkas Tjipetekera and ever-shining Anna Kaspar bring depth in the attack.

Sixteen teams will contest next year's World Cup, with five countries having already automatically qualified by virtue of their high ranking position in the International Netball Federation (INF) World Rankings, with the exception of England who qualify as the host nation.

The remaining ten teams will qualify via regional qualification tournaments, such as next month's Africa Netball World Cup qualifiers, with two teams selected from each of the five international netball regions � Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania � securing their place in Liverpool.

The teams (six if England is included) that qualified automatically are Australia, England, New Zealand, Jamaica, South Africa and Malawi.